Havin lived in Medellin, Colombia, for three months, I would be very happy to live there long term. The climate is comfortable all year round, the city feels more like an Australian city than a Latin American one, and it is cheap to live.

Yet it's only one place. Having lived there, I don't think it would be too difficult to settle in another place either.

I'm not a big fan of tropical climates though, and beaches don't do a lot for me except as a place to visit once in a while. I went to a number of places in Central America touted as great places for an expat to live. For most the climate was a turn off for me.

'Hi Teddy,
Our aim is a property in Florence and to split our year between here and there.
Hopefully in the next couple of years we will have a solid plan in place'
You do mean the hills around Florence, not the city itself?
rolling hills, vineyards rural idyll?
cheers

In most of Europe a person without patriality can only get a schlengen visa, which restricts travel to Europe to a maximum of 90 days every six months. For me, that means that an idylli retirement around Florence, for instance, would not be possible.

Not sure entirely, but I know buying property there, in France and living in it helps. These visa things are ever changing, they went on a lot of investigative holidays.. Checked out the local rural town halls,
There are some blogs?

I like the idea of splitting the budget and having two retirement destinations. Everywhere has a time of year when it's not so nice to be living there. We bought a little place in NZ a few yrs ago, golf course directly at the back and front, half an hour max to the ski fields (cheaper skiing than here too) and less to mountain walking and blue lakes. Cost $100k just needs double glazing and a new kitchen. I reckon we've got so fussy about weather though over the years, would get bored after three days of cloud. Thinking now of a cheapish place in Q'land as well.

I love Europe and could easily do summers there. I'm not sure about buying in France or Italy though. I think I'd go the caravan option initially to test areas out, you can get stuck for years with some of those houses if you're trying to sell them. Agree they can be good value though.

We've got some relos/friends who have retired overseas.
There's some cheap places in Spain, but some WEIRD places too. There are purpose built suburbs for British retirees: they have their little pubs and chippies and curry places. They mostly all hang around together and complain about "the Spanish".

I have some British friends who have retired to Crete. They have a lovely house with great views and a pool. They went there many times to check it all out in the summer. They moved over and found there are no facilities during the winter, even the power gets turned off for hours at a time. It is currently summer and they are loving it again ....

I have some British friends who have retired to Crete. They have a lovely house with great views and a pool. They went there many times to check it all out in the summer. They moved over and found there are no facilities during the winter, even the power gets turned off for hours at a time. It is currently summer and they are loving it again ....

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Alot of these countries are colder and wetter in the winter than people realise, and also everything closes down as they're tourism reliant on the whole. In any case, hopefully they got a bargain and have enough left for a little place somewhere else when Crete closes down for the winter. Sounds gorgeous no matter what.

My pick would be Hawaii, I have checked out Condo apartments and purchase prices aren't too bad and could rent it via VRBO ie 6 months Aus 6 months USA
As I haven't invested OS I wouldn't know where to start..!

I have some British friends who have retired to Crete. They have a lovely house with great views and a pool. They went there many times to check it all out in the summer. They moved over and found there are no facilities during the winter, even the power gets turned off for hours at a time. It is currently summer and they are loving it again ....

Click to expand...

It's a great spot, except for the tourists
Lots of the islands close down for the Winter, less tourists and such obviously. I was surprised to find out it snows on Crete.
The people we know in Spain have decided to go back to Wales for half of the year now as well.

I like the idea of splitting the budget and having two retirement destinations. Everywhere has a time of year when it's not so nice to be living there. We bought a little place in NZ a few yrs ago, golf course directly at the back and front, half an hour max to the ski fields (cheaper skiing than here too) and less to mountain walking and blue lakes. Cost $100k just needs double glazing and a new kitchen. I reckon we've got so fussy about weather though over the years, would get bored after three days of cloud. Thinking now of a cheapish place in Q'land as well.

I love Europe and could easily do summers there. I'm not sure about buying in France or Italy though. I think I'd go the caravan option initially to test areas out, you can get stuck for years with some of those houses if you're trying to sell them. Agree they can be good value though.

Click to expand...

Whilst I'd consider living/retiring overseas, I would NEVER buy a prop - too many question marks around legalities, tied up funds, maintenance, corruption, being ripped off, being anchored - why not just keep things simple and rent something long term. That way, if things don't work out, you can literally pack up and go find another watering hole. In addition, renting keeps your options open ie why limit the target to 1 or 2 locations - why not, 3 months in Provence, followed by Spain, then next year it'll be Bali, followed by Thailand etc etc. Big world out there with so much to see, and if planned well, can be done on the cheap too.

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